I got the idea for this from a post I read the other day…

Have you ever noticed that I rarely write about what I’m going to do?

My posts about the Tuesday night club rides always post on Wednesday.  I write it Tuesday night, after I get home while it’s still fresh.  I ride it first.

Every ride I write about, except maybe a mention in passing, is written about after it’s happened.

Almost every post I’ve ever written about cycling has been in response to something that’s happened to me on a ride, or an issue I’ve been through…

Here’s where this is important:  I don’t write about intentions – only rarely do I write about something I plan on doing.  I never write about my intentions.

Intentions are largely bullshit.  “Plan the plan not the outcome”, as they say.

I learned this lesson when I first sobered up.  Half of my drinking career, as short as it was, centered around good intentions and broken promises.  It wasn’t for a lack of desire but a lack of willpower.  A complete lack of, and care about, accountability in regards to consequences.  I’d say, “I’m going to quit drinking.  I’m swearing off it.  No more!”

Two weeks later I’m hammered, wondering how it happened.

I no longer live by intention.  It took a while for me to get it but my father used to say, “Put an intention in one hand and s#!+ in the other…  Now tell me which fills first”.  I realize it’s a rarity, but what I want to do or what I plan to do is utterly useless until I actually do it.

To wrap this up, I also don’t confuse intentions with an honest assessment of what I have in front of me to attain goals.  If I want to hit a certain weight before the season really ramps up, I know what I’ve gotta do to get there.  While I will write about what I have in front of me, I won’t write about what I will do to get there.  I’ll do what I have to do, then write about what I did.

Just something to gnaw on for a Friday.  Weekend’s almost here.  Ride hard my friends.